Two efforts that sought to change the U.S. Constitution died in the State Legislature Tuesday. The measures called for an Article V convention, which two-thirds of the states’ legislatures to sign on the idea of amending the U.S. Constitution.
House Joint Resolution 1004 requested a formal application to Congress for an Article V Convention for the purpose of a balanced budget amendment. Supporters of the resolution say states have tools to amend the U.S. Constitution for a reason. Representative Jim Stalzer says the current situation is why the language was put into the constitution.
“George Mason brought forth the idea that if Congress ever got totally out of control, they had not given the states the ability to fix the problem. Therefore, the part of Article V that’s being spoken to today was added so that we could stop an out of control Congress. I contend that Congress is out of control, and won’t balance its budget without the states forcing it,” Stalzer says.
But some opponents counter that change must come at the voting box. Representative Dan Kaiser reminds legislators that part of the country’s debt comes from giving federal funds to the states.
“But there’s a certain hypocrisy here, that we are a taker state. We take more money from the feds than we give them in taxes. We are afraid to vote no on legislation because the feds threaten to take money away from us. That national debt is as much this body’s fault as the people in D.C.” Kaiser says.
House Bill 1136 limited convention delegates to voting for only authorized amendments. Neglecting to do so would cause the delegate to be recalled and fined. The measure failed 33-37, but prime sponsor Manny Steele gave notice of reconsideration.
Representatives agree there’s not just one group to blame for the mounting debt, but disagree on how to approach the problem. HJR 1004 failed after more than a half hour of debate.